Adjusting to Surroundings
by StarStruck1
Summary: Erika seems to be falling down deep for Bradin. Something inside her keeps telling her to just talk to him, just look his way. But everytime she does she gets closer and closer to him. And its getting harder and harder to pull away. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

1Disclaimer: **I do not own Summerland or the characters.**

Bradin steped carefully out of the water trying to dodge the sharp rocks. He put his board down and wrapped his towel around his shoulders, staring into the sunlight made his eyes water and thinking about what happened over the months made his eyes sting. Trying to be brave for his family was hard enough. But between his failing grades and the empty hole in his heart that used to be full, Bradin is feeling much worse then he ever has. He needed somone to cheer him up, help him out, anything.

"Bradin, I have to meet with some people about my Fall design's, there is mac and cheese in the fridge." Ava was rushing around the house while she instructed Nikki and I about being home alone.

"Ava. Were fine." Nikki assured her.

"We've been home, _alone_ before." Bradin laughed as he pushed his aunt out the door.

"Whats for dinner?" Derrick marched down the stairs from his bedroom, his skate board in one hand and a pop in the other.

"Mac and cheese. Got another hand to hold the bowl?" Brading asked taking the pop from his hand and sipping it slowly while he smiled.

"Dude, one word. Manners." Derrick laughed and opened the fridge.

"I miss these days. You know when mom and dad would go out for dinners and leave us home to destroy the house." Nikki said smiling. Bradin didn't smile nor laugh. He stood there staring at her and wodering, _how could she bring them up, or even talk about them after what happened._"

"Bradin can you heat this up, im going to go put my skate board away." Derrick said braking the awkward silence. He handed Bradin a bowl and ran across the living room to the back door. Bradin waited till it was shut to scold Nikki.

"Nikki, what makes you think you can bring them up! Especially infront of Derrick!" Brading said furiously.

"What is your problem. We can talk about them. We should!" Nikki yelled, her face turning red. She stormed up stairs. Bradin felt bad for yelling, but he hated when she brought them up, it hurt to much to say there names or talk about them. His throat began to sting and his eyes turned red. The pain that lurked inside him made him want to scream.


	2. Chapter 2

Erika couldn't concentrate the rest of the day. She new Bradin had a thing for her but, she didn't know she liked him. She wasn't even sure if she did. She remebered last month when Bradin had told her he loved her and cared about her and would never, ever stop. But Erika told him to stop and to get over that they can't be together. She was his surf coach, and she knew she would get fired and he would get kicked off the team. "Whats up with you?" Jay asked finally. "Nothing," Erika said. "gonna go to two brothers, its hot and I need to get in the water. I'll be back in an hour." Erika said putting down the boxes. "Hey. You can't just leave you work here." Jay laughed. "Yeah. But its dead today. You won't miss me that much." Erika waved and headed down the small streets of the busy boardwalk. She looked at all the people on rollerskates and eating ice cream. Boy was it hot. She searched the beach for any sign of Bradin. Then saw his towel he carryed with him everyday. She sat her towel next to his and headed out to where she spotted his blonde haired head. "Bradin!" Erika said waving. "I knew you would come." "To hot to not." Erika laughed. A akward silence struck for a while. "Hey, lets see the 360, maybe I can help." "Your my surf coach for the team, you can't help, unles its at practice." Bradin said turning his board around. "Yeah, but it'll be our little secret. This one." She turned her board and started to paddle. Finally the wave lifted their boards and both of them stood up quickly putting there arms out for balence. She watched as Bradin came up the wave and attemped to turn, but before he could land it the wave hit the end of his board and he came crashing down with the wave. Erika then lost her balece as well. "Okay. Whats your advice?" Bradin said climbing back onto his board. "Your just loosing your balence really and you need to be quicker." Erika said then pointing to the next wave. "Be careful of the reef." Erika said. Bradin nodded and then tried again. This time he got up and turned he board quickly and almost did it. But then the wave rushed over the board swipping his feet off and his back to the water. Bradin tumbled a bit under water before he came up. He came up and noticed his board gone. "Kansas, you okay?" Erika helped him up onto her board and waited for an answer. He slowly tried to answer but just choked out water. "Come on, lets go in."

As soon as Bradin and Erika reached there towels she grabed her cell phone and dialed Ava. "Ava?" Erika franticly said. "Erika is that you? Whats wrong?" Ava said. "Were at two brothers we need you!" Erika hung up the phone. "Bradin, Bradin, answer me!" Erika cried. "Is he okay?" A girl ask rushing up to her. "Call the parametics! Call an ambulence!" Erika saw Ava running with Johnny. "Is he okay? Whats wrong? Bradin, Bradin." Ava held Bradin's hand. Bradin moaned in pain.

"Hey, I just got the news is he okay?" Susannah came to meet Ava and everyone at the hospital. "They think he'll be fine." Jay said putting her hand on Ava's shoulder. "Ava Gregory? Can we talk to you for a second, medical stuff." A doctor said. "Sure. Is he gonna be okay?" They walked into a small room. "Yes. I'm sure he'll be fine. But we need to know what happened since he is having trouble telling us. Were you there?" The doctor said sitting in a chair. "No, but I can get someone who was." Ava said. "Yes. Thank you."

Erika explained to the doctor what happened. "Oh, I see." The doctor nodded. "When can we see him?" Nikki whined. "In a bit. There running some tests now." Ava said sitting in a chair outside the room. "What kind of stunt was he trying to pull I told him not to try his 360 without someone helping him there, he can't do it right now, its dangerous if he is trying it without good help." Jay said pacing. "Well it looks like someone was there. Someone that probably shouldn't be helping him." Ava said looking at Erika. "We were just surfing, I gave him a tip. Thats it, it was nothing, I really, I wasn't really helping him." Erika said appolgising. "Lets not worry about that now! Bradin is in the hospital!" Nikki cried. "Nikki, he is going to be fine." Ava assured her, but she crossed her arms. "You guys can come on in," The doctor motioned the group. "but only family, please." Ava followed the doctor in and Nikki and Derrick followed eagerly behind. Bradin laid on a bed his right eye a bit swollen. "Bradin. Are you okay?" Nikki rushed up to him. "Yeah. Nikki, I'm fine." Bradin nodded. "Hey, guys, do you think I can talk to Bradin, alone." Nikki and Derrick walked out of the room. "Are you sure your okay?" Ava said sitting at the end of the bed. "Yeah," He nodded. "just don't let Erika get in trouble for helping me a bit. It wasn't much, I really want to stay on the surf team, and Erika loves being the coach."Bradin said sitting up a little. "I won't say anything." Ava smiled. Erika walked in a moment later. "I'll leave you to it." Ava left.

"Hey." Erika said. "You feeling okay?" "Yeah. I'm good, better." Bradin smiled. "Thats good, becuase I have some bad news. You won't be surfing for a while, a good while." Erika laughed. "Yeah. Your probably right, but, I can watch you." Bradin laughed holding Erika's hand.


	3. Chapter 3

After the incident in the water Erika felt more comfortable around Bradin. It was weird. Like something was stirring inside her that kept telling her to just talk to him. Just look his way. But every time she did she saw herself get closer and closer to Bradin and its getting harder and harder to pull away.

Nikki stirred her cereal around in the bowl with her spoon. "You ever gonna eat that?" Derrick asked. "Yeah. When I'm good and ready." Nikki said keeping her eyes on the bowl. "Your cereal is gonna get soggy." Derrick said standing up from the table. "I'm good and ready." Nikki laughed taking a bite. "Hey Nikki? Can we make that sweet apple muffins mom used to make." Derrick said. "Uh...well I don't really have the recipe. But I can try to look for it." "Look for what?" Ava asked coming into the kitchen. "A muffin recipe. My mom used to make it." Derrick said. "Oh, I'm sure its upstairs in the fabric cabinet." Ava smiled.

Bradin held his board while he stood infront of the waves. Its been four weeks since he's gone in. He had to admit, he was very scared. He remembered the feeling that he felt when the wave took over him and he lost complete control. He put his board down. He the looked over to where Erika was setting up the surf team practice. His palms were sweating and his heart was beating a mile and minute he took a deep breath then walked over to where the tent stood. "Hey Erika." Bradin said coming up behind her. "Hi." "Um...do you have the list of people that are on the team? The attendence list?" Bradin asked casually. "Yep here." She handed him a clip board. He quickly took the pen from the small table and crossed his name of the list. He set it down on the table. "Hey uh, I gotta run, you wanna meet down town tonight. Later say, eight?" Bradin asked slowly backing up. "Sure." Erika didn't turn around but he knew she was just hiding her smile.

Nikki searched through the cabinet for the muffin recipe. "Excuse me sweetie, I just need to get to the blue fabric. I have to start a whole new fall design." Ava said reaching for the material. "Ah ha! I got it." Nikki rushed over to the copier and copyed the sheet. "Do we have all the ingredients?" Ava asked. "I think so. This is gonna be awsome. I can't wait to tell Derrick!" "Whats awsome?" Bradin asked. "You sister found the muffin recipe your mom used to make. The one with the apples." Ava smiled. "She what!" Bradin grabed the paper from Nikki and ripped it up. "Nikki! We've already talked about this. What DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?"Bradin shouted tears streaming from his eyes he never ever wanted to hear the words mom or dad again! He couldn't take it. "Bradin. Bradin what has gotten into you!" Ava said. Nikki took a step back. Bradin sat on the couch with his head in his hands."I'm not strong enough. I can't handle-" Bradin was crying so hard he couldn't talk. "Bradin. Listen to yourself. Are you okay." Ava put her hand on his knee. "I don't want to talk to you about it, you wouldn't understand! You wouldn't!" Bradin couldn't keep his voice low he wanted to scream to shout anything. "Fine. But til then you can wait in your room." Ava said pushing him along.

Bradin watched the clock tic. He saw that it was 2 minutes until eight. He had to meet Erika. He jumped up from his bed, he quietly opened the door and left. He made a run for the town. He finally got there and the streets were empty and dark. It was a bit spooky. He spotted Erika on a bench. He sat down next to her. "Hey, uh...are you okay?" Erika said tapping his knee. "Fine. Why'd you ask?" "Well, you aunt called me. And she-" "Oh." Bradin didn't want to get into it. "Bradin, I know how it feels, to loose someone so important to you. I lost my mom, remember." "I know. Its just horrible I don't even want to say mom or dad let alone talk about them."Bradin confessed. Erika and Bradin talked for a while. It felt good to let it all out. "By the way, why'd you cross your name of the list and skip practice?" Erika asked crossing her arms across her chest. "I just don't want to surf anymore." Bradin said. "Huh. Thats funny because I think the real reason is you scared. Your scared of getting hurt, possibly messing up." Erika said smileing. "No! Its not." "Uh huh. Right." Erika said. "You seriously aren't gonna do this to me are you?" Bradin asked. "Uh yep. Your coming tomorrow!" Erika playful hit his shoulder. "Is that so." Bradin laughed. "Yep, it is." Erika said. Bradin leaned in to kiss her when he heard a familar voice he looked up and saw Aunt Ava. He's heart literally skipped a beat or two and Erika then stood up trying to make up an excuse. "Erika, its not worth it." Bradin said. "This isn't the first time. For either of this. Bradin you know way better then to sneak out! Do you know how scary that is to find you gone? And Erika, last time it almost cost you your job, now it could cost you your home, without a job no money!" Ava could go on. "Ava, I'm so, so sorry. I know, I know I should'nt, I mean I can't." Erika started to back away from Bradin. "Erika, no. Come on. This is crazy. Its not right. I quit. I quit the team. I quit today. Now we can be together, right." Bradin said frusterated with the situation. "You quit!" Ava said.


	4. Chapter 4

Nikki stared at the smoothie shop debating to go in or not. She wanted to talk and see Cam. But she had know idea if he wanted to see her. They hadn't talked in almost a week so Nikki went ahead and stepped in. She found Cam behind the counter making a smoothie. She went up to the counter and leaned on the edge. "Hi." Nikki said. "Oh. Hey." He turned around. "Whacha doing here?" He asked. "I was wondering if we could talk."

Ava threw the materials on the floor. "Whats wrong?" Asked Susanna. "We have to restart the fall line." Ava said in frustration. "Oh yeah. I heard. Let me help. Where's those sketches?" Susannah started to pick up the materials of the floor in search for the drawings. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna check on Bradin." Ava dogded all the mess of fabric on the floor to get to the stairs. "Bradin. Bradin, can I come in?" Ava knocked on Bradin's door. Ava opened the door and found Bradin sitting on his bed. "What?" Bradin asked shrugging his shoulders. "Can we talk about the surf team. Are you sure thats what you wanna do, you love to surf I mean-" "I don't know. No." Bradin said sitting up. "But, how do I know whats best for me?" Bradin asked. "Well, you don't, you just know whats right." Ava said sitting on his bed. "Well, this doesn't feel right."

"Erika. Erika!" Bradin ran up to Erika. "Kansas, your back. Decide to join back up?" Erika asked. "Yeah." Bradin smiled. "So you've worked things out?" "Well, not all things. Me and you. Thats one thing. But...if we keep out mouths shut." Bradin walked closer to Erika. "Bradin. If your gonna join you need to be serious." Erika said holding his shoulder back. "You mean about us. Or..." Bradin laughed. "Ha ha. Get out there." Erika pointed to the water.

"So you what are you doing Spring Break?" Nikki asked. "Well, I have nothing planned." Cameron said putting his arm around Nikki. "You wanna go to the beach?" Nikki sat down on the bench at the end of the boardwalk. "Sure." Cam smiled. Nikki was so glad Cam still liked her and that they were together.

"Whats up Jay?" Bradin came in a hit Jay's shoulder. "Nothing man. Come to help out?" Jay asked. "Why not. Erika ditch you for the water again." Bradin smiled as he started organizing the wet suites by size. "Accually, she's out with some guy." Jay said stacking the wax up. "What?" Bradin asked suddenly stopping. "Yeah. I don't know whats up with her she needs a good talking to. She seems well, not the same. Donno, bro. Somethin' not right." Jay said shaking his long hair. "Uh..I know I said I would you know help but I just forgot I gotta be home. I have to get to uh...something." Bradin turned around and left worried of where Erika might be and with who. Bradin searched everywhere. She wasn't even at the beach. There was place he didn't check and he dare never go. Spanish Cove, he was warned by Erika to never, ever take a girl there, and when he did, he knew she would be upset and she did not want to find out if she was there! So he looked one more time for her at the otherside of town. He walked all the way to the Sushi Pavillian. When he got there he looked around and he finally spotted her on the beach with a guy. He felt hurt and devastated. He couldn't look. But he forced himself down the steps with his anger. He gave himself the push he needed. "Erika. We seriously-" Bradin was cut off by the sound of her voice. "Bradin! What are you doing here? How'd you, nevermind. "Uh...you remember uh...well...Tanner." Bradin did remember Tanner. He also remembered how he saved Erika from him on Founder's Day. He couldn't believe she was with him. He didn't know what to say, or do. He couldn't believe Erika would do this to him, she knew it would hurt him, bad.


	5. Chapter 5

Nikki stared at the smoothie shop debating to go in or not. She wanted to talk and see Cam. But she had know idea if he wanted to see her. They hadn't talked in almost a week so Nikki went ahead and stepped in. She found Cam behind the counter making a smoothie. She went up to the counter and leaned on the edge. "Hi." Nikki said. "Oh. Hey." He turned around. "Whacha doing here?" He asked. "I was wondering if we could talk."

Ava threw the materials on the floor. "Whats wrong?" Asked Susanna. "We have to restart the fall line." Ava said in frustration. "Oh yeah. I heard. Let me help. Where's those sketches?" Susannah started to pick up the materials of the floor in search for the drawings. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna check on Bradin." Ava dogded all the mess of fabric on the floor to get to the stairs. "Bradin. Bradin, can I come in?" Ava knocked on Bradin's door. Ava opened the door and found Bradin sitting on his bed. "What?" Bradin asked shrugging his shoulders. "Can we talk about the surf team. Are you sure thats what you wanna do, you love to surf I mean-" "I don't know. No." Bradin said sitting up. "But, how do I know whats best for me?" Bradin asked. "Well, you don't, you just know whats right." Ava said sitting on his bed. "Well, this doesn't feel right."

"Erika. Erika!" Bradin ran up to Erika. "Kansas, your back. Decide to join back up?" Erika asked. "Yeah." Bradin smiled. "So you've worked things out?" "Well, not all things. Me and you. Thats one thing. But...if we keep out mouths shut." Bradin walked closer to Erika. "Bradin. If your gonna join you need to be serious." Erika said holding his shoulder back. "You mean about us. Or..." Bradin laughed. "Ha ha. Get out there." Erika pointed to the water.

"So you what are you doing Spring Break?" Nikki asked. "Well, I have nothing planned." Cameron said putting his arm around Nikki. "You wanna go to the beach?" Nikki sat down on the bench at the end of the boardwalk. "Sure." Cam smiled. Nikki was so glad Cam still liked her and that they were together.

"Whats up Jay?" Bradin came in a hit Jay's shoulder. "Nothing man. Come to help out?" Jay asked. "Why not. Erika ditch you for the water again." Bradin smiled as he started organizing the wet suites by size. "Accually, she's out with some guy." Jay said stacking the wax up. "What?" Bradin asked suddenly stopping. "Yeah. I don't know whats up with her she needs a good talking to. She seems well, not the same. Donno, bro. Somethin' not right." Jay said shaking his long hair. "Uh..I know I said I would you know help but I just forgot I gotta be home. I have to get to uh...something." Bradin turned around and left worried of where Erika might be and with who. Bradin searched everywhere. She wasn't even at the beach. There was place he didn't check and he dare never go. Spanish Cove, he was warned by Erika to never, ever take a girl there, and when he did, he knew she would be upset and she did not want to find out if she was there! So he looked one more time for her at the otherside of town. He walked all the way to the Sushi Pavillian. When he got there he looked around and he finally spotted her on the beach with a guy. He felt hurt and devastated. He couldn't look. But he forced himself down the steps with his anger. He gave himself the push he needed. "Erika. We seriously-" Bradin was cut off by the sound of her voice. "Bradin! What are you doing here? How'd you, nevermind. "Uh...you remember uh...well...Tanner." Bradin did remember Tanner. He also remembered how he saved Erika from him on Founder's Day. He couldn't believe she was with him. He didn't know what to say, or do. He couldn't believe Erika would do this to him, she knew it would hurt him, bad.


	6. Chapter 6

Even though Bradin was hurt. He was surprisingly glad that Erika was with someone else. As much as they loved eachother, it just wasn't meant to be. Or maybe it was. But he needed a break. So he did, he went out with a friend from the surf team to a party on the beach, some girls Sweet Sixteen. "Chad, wheres all the girls?" Bradin asked scanning the party. "Right infront of you." Chad laughed and then punched his arm. He watched as Chad made his way through the clump of kids. Bradin thought it was stupid the whole party, party, party idea. So he headed to where he could find some real girls, the beach.

The beach was pretty empty for a Saturday afternoon. He watched some people jog down the beach. He started humming a tune and just watching the sunset. He moved slowly thinking hard about what he had planned. _Was he going to break up with Erika? Or, just forgive her? Was she even sorry? _"Whoa. Sorry I didn't even see you." Bradin apologized helping the girl up. "Its okay. I seem to always be invisible to people." She laughed and her blonde hair shook. Her baby blue eyes drawed Bradin in. "I'm Bradin Westerly." "Hayle Tristin." She said with a smile. "You live here?" Bradin asked starting to walk again. "Yeah, right up there." She pointed up the hill. "Are ya with someone?" Bradin asked curious. "Eh...what kind of question is that?" She laughed. "I don't know. I'm just curious." Bradin said stopping at a large boulder. He slowly sat down and leaned his back against its cold, rocky surface. "Well, I'm not. You know, with anyone," She said sitting down next to him. "Are you?" "No." Bradin replied a little to quickly. "You surf?" He asked nodding to the water. "No, I wish though, my younger brother does but he won't teach me." She laughed again. Her smile glistened this time. Her white teeth shined while she smiled. "I could, you know teach you if you want." Bradin offered, he really just wanted to set up a date. "Cool." "How about tomorrow?" Bradin said. He hoped she would agree. "Sure, I'll meet you at two brothers at eleven, is that okay?" She got up brushing the sand off her clothes. "Perfect." He said. It was truely perfect, she was and the time was, he knew Erika would be out there at that time and couldn't wait to get her back. He sorta felt bad for using her to get back at Erika. But really it wasn't like that. He really wanted to get to know Hayle, maybe they were meant to be.

Nikki stared into the deep green eyes of Cam. She smiled. "Whats so funny?" He asked turning a light shade of red. "Nothing, I'm just happy." Nikki laughed. Nikki was super glad to have Cam back. She was even more glad that his dad had stopped drinking. "You know Nikki, since school starts up again soon, I was hoping you still wanted to do the school paper together. We make a pretty awsome team." Cam said putting his hand on hers. "Yeah. I would like that." Nikki was more then pleased.

Ava ran around the loft area looking for hir light yellow silk fabric. "Where is it? I just had it," Susannah lifted a fabric from her shoe and swung it in the air. "Mmmm..."Ava smiled and shook her head. She took the yellow silk fabric she had been looking for from Susanna and cut it into a shape for the sleeve of the shirt. She pinned it to the maniquin. "This is our last outfit." Ava smiled proud of her work. "Remind me again why we couldn't use the old outfits." Susannah asked. "Reene LeShello didn't like them, to summer-like she told me. 'This is a fall line'" Ava mocked the french accent of Reene LeShello and Susannah laughed.

Bradin put of his black and blue wetsuit that covered all of his legs and was long sleeved. He tossed his white sweatshirt that had no sleeves in a backpack and threw a beach towel in there as well. He was nervous about having a first date infront of Erika. "It'll be fine." Bradin said to himself. He wished there was more time before school started. He didn't want to go back. But he knew he would have to.

When Bradin arrived at two brothers he right away spotted Erika's towel and bag. He put his stuff as far as he could from hers. Then took his board and headed into the water where he spotted Hayle. "You got here early!" Bradin said before ducking his head under. "Yeah. It was just so hot." Hayle exclaimed. "So thats your board?" Bradin said. "Yep." She nodded, her blonde hair looked so dark in the water, she looked more beautiful in the water then ever. "So lets see what you got." He said scooting up his board. "Alright." She began to turn her board and then started paddeling hard. She checked once over her right shoulder right as the wave started to lift her. She jumped up and bent her knee's slightly. She held her arms out beside her just a little to keep her balence. She turned her board so it would go over the wave and she then pulled a 180. Bradin started clapping in shock. "I thought you couldn't surf!" Bradin said in confusion. "Girl's gotta do what a girls gotta do to get a guy." She smiled so confident it made Bradin tremble. bradin shook his hair and then pulled his 360 landing perfectly. "Nice," Hayle called out. "Bradin has the fever people!" Bradin sat on his board staring into her blue eyes that tugged him in. He slowly leaned in, but then he heard someone call out his name. "Kansas!"


	7. Chapter 7

"Whos that?" Hayle asked pulling back. "Um..."Bradin turned his head to see Erika paddeling out to him. "Oh god." He mumbled. "What the hell is this!" She yelled. "Erika...its nothing." Bradin said a little worry striked in his voice. "So this is nothing?" Hayle asked. "No." He answered turning his head toward Hayle. "So this is something?" Erika said. "Bradin, if this is your girlfriend," Hayle threatend. "Thats right, I'm his _girlfriend_." Erika said. Hayle started to paddle back to shore. "What is wrong with you?" Erika slapped his arm in disbelief. "Whats wrong with me? Whats wrong with me? You were just at the beach with _Tanner!_" Bradin yelled. "Bradin, I know. I'm so sorry. I felt horrible. Its just-" "You thought you could do whatever you wanted. Take adventage of me? What?" Bradin inturupted. "No thats not it!" Erika screamed. She kicked her feet around in frustration. "I just I don't know I was upset about a lot of stuff and I ran into Tanner, and I just, I'm so so sorry. Please, Bradin. I didn't want to hurt you."

Nikki knocked on Cam's front door twice. She fixed her Juicy Couture skirt and then pulled on her top to undo any wrinkles."Hey," Cam answered the door. "What are you doing here?" "Oh. I had the new layout for the school paper printed and I wanted to show you." Nikki said handing him the papers. "Its a bit early...but I'll see, come on in." Cam still staring at the papers opened the door wider. "So what do you think?" Nikki said stepping inside. "Pretty neat. I would move the advice column more to the front just because its a popular section. But...its great." Cam smiled. "Thanks. So...who do you have for homeroom?" "Uh...Mr. Weiner. You?" He sat down on a stool in his kitchen and Nikki followed. "Mrs. Cater." "Soda?" Cam asked. "Sure." She smiled.

"Last outfit complete! Were done!" Ava high fived Susannah and Kolby. "Ladies, you are brilliant." Kolby patted Ava on the back. "Thanks." The phone rang loudly and Susannah reached for it. "Its for me." Ava said stopping Susannah. "You know it might not be him." Susannah said. "Hello?" Ava answered the phone. "Yeah, I'm free." Ava was so excited when Johnny called. He had moved into a small apartment about a month ago and hadn't called in a while and Ava really missed him. "Its Johhny!" Ava mouthed to Kolby and Susannah.

"Bradin. Bradin!" Erika screamed as she tried to catch up to Bradin on the boardwalk. Bradin walked faster. "Bradin. Stop!" Erika quickly grabed his shoulder and stopped him, laying a kiss on his lips.


	8. Chapter 8

Once again Bradin was in love with Erika. Although he knew he couldn't be together, they had to be. They were meant to be together. "Erika." Bradin touched her arm. He was five minutes late for surf team practice on purpose. He knew all the boys would already be in the water and that would give him at least 40 seconds to say a sincere hello and run into the water. "Oh thank god your here. I have great news!" Erika said her smile so bright and vibrant it made Bradin's knee's shake. "I've talked to all the head coaches, everyone. And, well I've been promoted and as long as I'm not coaching _your_ team, we can be together. Its my last practice! Isn't this great!" "You mean your not going to be my coach anymore?" Bradin asked surpirsed. "Well, I guess. But that means we don't have to sneak around anymore and we can surf together without it being mistaken for cheating." Erika was so excited she was practicly jumping up and down. "Yeah. This is really great. Plus everyone knows they pay tons more with the older girls." Bradin said raising his eyebrows. "You mean they pay higher with the older _guys._" Bradin looked confused. "Wait, older guys. You mean boys?" Bradin asked. He didn't want Erika coaching older guys, she was two years older then him and those guys were exactly her age. "Yeah. Its the only job that was open, you don't mind right?" Erika asked reaching for a board behind her. "Well-" "Bradin, I love you. You know I would never ever do anything to hurt you! Please, its a great job, we can be together, and hey, if you want you can come to the practice, watch my every move. You can follow me around everywhere." Erika laughed handing him a board. "Can I live with you?" Bradin smiled. "Ha Ha. No!" Erika laughed and pushed him toward the water.

Ava perfected all the outfits and stuck them on a hanger. "Do you think were ready?" Susannah asked. "Yeah. Well, Kolby you called all the models to make sure they were showing up right?" Ava turned toward Kolby. "Of coarse. Keisha couldn't but I got a sub and they are all coming a hour earlier then they have to for extra prepreation." Kobly said placing a ourfit on a hanger. "Im nervous." Ava said as she put the hanger on a rack. "Tommorrow is gonna be great. You wait. It'll be awsome. Just wait." Susannah assured her.

Nikki paced back and forth infront of the movies. She stopped to check her watch every 2 minutes or so. Cam was never late. Maybe her clock was wrong and she was early. Nikki looked inside the theater and looked at the clock, it was still 4:29. He was twenty-nine minutes late. Nikki took out her cell and dialed Cam's number. _He better have a good excuse,_ Nikki thought. "Cam? Where are you. Your where? Uh...yeah like twenty-nine minutes ago!" Nikki was full of rage but didn't want to yell. She already had a pretty horrible sore throat and yelling would just make it worse. "You were busy? Oh really? Whatever Cam, bye." Nikki hung up the phone. She couldn't believe Cam stood her up. Even if he was_ 'busy'_ he should have called. She walked to Beyond the Blue, maybe someone there could cheer her up.

Bradin couldn't concentrate in the water. He kept falling and then finally after four attemps to do a 180, Erika called him in. "Whats up Kansas?" Erika asked sitting on the edge of the table. "How'd you know?" Bradin said trying not to let her read him. "Its not my fault I can read you like a book." Erika said folding her arms across her chest. "Well, its just a little weird you not being my coach anymore." Bradin mumbled. "Uh huh." Erika gave him a stern face. "Fine. I don't want you coaching guys your age...its just to I don't know." Bradin said as he leaned against the table. "Come on Bray." Erika said standing up tall focasing her eyes on his. "There is nothing to worry about." Erika said patting his shoulder. "Yeah. Your right." Bradin nodded and picked up his board.


	9. Chapter 9

It was weird going to practice and having Erika not there. It made Bradin nervous. There new coach however was very strict, Bradin wasn't enjoying the practices as much. But he had to stay focased for the meet they had in a week. Whoever gets in the top three is automaticly qualifyed for the circuit and Bradin knew that this could be his chance and he was going to do everything he could to win.

"Nikki can I borrow you for a minute?" Ava asked walking into Nikki's bedroom. Ava was so happy that Nikki was back to her old self, and was happy she had been talking to friends. "It won't take long." She nodded at Amber who smiled. "What is it?" Nikki asked walking down the steps to Ava's studio. "Okay Kolby and Susannah are gone and I just can't figure it out. Blue or pink?" Ava held up the two color combos. The blue didn't go good with the brown so Nikki pointed to the pink and brown cloth. "Thats pretty." Nikki smiled. "Thanks Nik." Ava said putting down the fabric. "Amber and I are going to the pier so I'll probably eat later." Nikki told Ava as she slowly made her way up the stairs. "Thats fine," Ava said. "But remember you have a curfew too. Not passed ten." Ava gave her a stern look and Nikki nodded.

"So you and Cam are together?" Amber asked in between sips of her smoothie. "Seems that way. We had some trouble but we cleared it up." Nikki said splashing her feet in the water. Nikki and Amber were sitting at the edge of the rocks at the end of the pier. It was much quieter and Amber and Nikki hadn't talked in a while and had a lot of catching up to do. "I'm glad." Nikki said sipping her smoothie. "Yeah," Amber adjusted her straw and then turned toward Nikki. "Guess what! Nick O'Shea likes me!" Amber eyes widened with excitement and so did Nikki's. "No!" I said laughing. "Yes, Greg told me." Amber said kicking her feet with glee. "Thats awsome. Is he gonna ask you out?" Nikki asked. "I don't know if he doesn't with in a week I just might have to myself!" Amber laughed. Nick O'Shea was one of the cutest guys in our school besides Cam. Nikki knew Amber had a crush on him since last summer.They were back to there original selfs, Nikki felt like she could tell Amber anything.

Bradin checked the time in the Tiki Squeeze to make sure he wouldn't be late for Erika's first practice with the new guys. Bradin paid for his Orange Squeeze and then headed for two brothers. "Erika!" Bradin called. "Hey there Kansas." Erika said kissing him on his cheek. "Whoa do you have enough boards?" Bradin asked looking at all of them. "Well I didn't know who had one or who needed one or maybe some people only use certain ones or..." "Erika. Are you okay?" Bradin asked running his fingures through his hair. "Just nervous." Erika said looking at her clipboard. "Hey whats that?" Erika asked grabing the sheet of paper out of Bradin's hand. "This yours?" Erika asked scrunching her eyebrows. "Uh..yeah. I just picked it up." Bradin said tossing his cup into the trash. "Its a good idea." Erika said smileing. "You think?" Bradin said overlooking the sign up sheet for lifeguards. "Yeah. It'll keep ya busy." Erika smiled. "Are you the new coach?" A guy came up behind Erika. "Yeah, I'm Erika." Erika smiled. "Cool." A couple guys gathered around. "Okay guys! If you need a board, there here. I just want to see where you guys are so just go out there and just throw some simple stuff, today isn't gonna be like a regular practice. But tomorrow we start some real drills!" Some of the guys whispered. "Yo bro!" A guy came up beside Bradin. "She single?" He whispered. Bradin wasn't shocked but he was getting more nervous about this whole coaching thing. Erika had perfect timing she turned toward him and kissed him and Bradin kissed her back.


	10. Chapter 10

"Call Cam," Amber begged. "I haven't seen him in months." "Why?" Nikki asked as they strolled down the pier. "Because I haven't seen him in forever. Ask him to come and hang with us!" Amber said pulling out her cell. "Why don't you call him?" Nikki said taking the phone. "Because we haven't talked in a long time and that would be weird." Amber said gigling with excitement. "Your crazy." Nikki told Amber as she dialed in the numbers. Amber just shrugged. "Cam? Hey its Nikki. Nothing. Hey, do you wanna come and hang with Amber and I, were at the pier?" Nikki saw Amber cross her fingures. "Kay. Bye." Nikki hung up the phone. Then nodded at Amber.

Bradin shuffled his feet around in the cool sand. He took out his phone and checked the time. It was two minutes after nine. Erika promised to meet him at nine. "Sorry I'm late!" Erika called as she ran up to Bradin. Erika looked beautiful, she was wearing a jean mini skirt and a tee shirt that read Hollister across the front in green. Her hair was shiny and her eyes sparkled it made Bradin forget about her being late. "No problem." Bradin shook it off and stood up. "Were you waiting long?" Erika asked starting to walk a little. "No, not really." Bradin said hanging his arm over her shoulders. "So what do you wanna do?" Erika asked sliding his arm off her shoulders and grasping his hand. "I don't care, as long as I'm with you." Bradin smiled. "We could go to Karen's party. Heard its huge." Erika said turning to face Bradin. "Sure." Bradin kissed Erika and then let Erika lead to the party.

Jay sat down on the couch by Ava. Ava slumped foward and her eyes were red and puffy. "Ava? Are you okay?" Jay asked finally. "He's gone. Gone!" Ava said tears streaming from her eyes and down her checks. "Whos gone?" Jay asked rubbing her shoulder. "Johnny." Ava whispered.

Nikki saw Cam and waved him over. "Hey." Nikki and Amber waved. "Its been a long time." Cam said smileing at Amber. "Yeah." Amber said nodding. "We thought we could use another companion." Nikki laughed. "So what do you guys wanna do. We've been sitting here all night." Amber said glancing at the people around her. "Hey did you here about that party. Karen's or something, a bunch of kids from our grade were talking about it." Nikki said. "Yeah. I heard about that too." Cam said. "Lets go!" Amber punched her fist to the sky and everyone laughed.

"Whoa. This _is_ huge!" Bradin said looking at the hundreds of people. "What you think I was lieing Kansas?" Erika said pulling him along. There was tons of food, a dj, tons of kids, and a giant dance floor. "Come on, lets dance." Bradin said giving Erika's arm a tug.

Nikki, Amber and Cam arrived at the party and were amazed. "This is bigger then any party I've ever been too." Amber said staring at all the people. "Yeah, its sweet." Nikki said. "Are we dressed for this?" Nikki whispered to Amber. "You are." Amber smiled. Nikki looked down. She was wearing Hollister ripped jeans and a L.A.M.B tee shirt. Her hair was straight and laying on her shoulders. "This is cool." Cam said hanging his arm around Nikki. "Come on guys. Lets dance!" Amber said grabing Nikki's and Cam's hands and tugging them onto the dance floor.

Bradin was having such a good time. It was probably one of the first party's that he was having a really good time at. "Nik?" Bradin said stopping. "What?" Erika said turning around. "Nikki. What is she doing here?" Bradin began to walk over to her, Erika followed. "Nikki? What are you doing here, its really late." Bradin said touching her shoulder. Nikki turned around and saw Bradin. "Bradin!" Nikki was so surprised she blinked a few times to be sure it was really him. "What are you doing here?" Nikki asked crossing her arms. "I'm here with Erika. Do you know what time it is?" Bradin said throwing his arms in the air. He was playing the brother role now. He hated when he had to be a big brother. "Um..nine?" Nikki guessed. "Its almost eleven!" Bradin said pulling Nikki out of the crazyness of the dance floor. "Crap!" Nikki couldn't believe she stayed out so late. "Its almost eleven?"Amber jumped in. "I have to get home, my mom is gonna kill me." Amber walked off Cam still standing is disbelief. "Wait, are you sure. Last time I checked it was nine thirty." Cam said. Bradin pulled his cell out and said, "Its eleven." Bradin said nodding his head. "I'll see you later." Cam patted Nikki's shoulder. "Bradin I'm dead. Ava is going to be so mad at me! I didn't mean to! I swear..." Nikki started to feel her eyes fill with tears.

"Nikki! Where have you been?" Ava cried. "I'm so sorry, Aunt Ava." Nikki started. "Do you know what time it is! Its eleven! Your an hour late! You never called or checked in with me." Ava was stern. Something about her face looked different. Her eyes seemed red and puffy and swollen. Like she had been hit. Or like she had been crying for a really long time. "I'm really really, really sorry. I made a mistake, it was accident, I didn't even know it was that late." Nikki said softly. "Sometimes sorry isn't enough! For right now just, just, go to your room until I can figure out what to do with you."Nikki stormed off even before Ava finished. Nikki's mom never raised her voice, it made Nikki scared and afraid to know what was going to happen. She felt horrible for not checking the time. "Aunt Ava, don't be so hard on her. She didn't know." Bradin said. "Bradin, the last person I want to here excuses for is you. I had know idea you were going out tonight. When were you planing on telling me you were going out?" Ava said leaning against the backdoor. "You weren't home when I left. I told Jay." Bradin was so frusterated he wanted to scream. "Where were you two?" Ava said looking over at Erika. "Um...just at the beach." "Is that were you ran into Nikki?" Ava asked crossing her arms. "Yeah. It was." Bradin said, he was about to lift his fingure into his mouth and bite his nail but then he remembered he only did that when he was lieing and immeditly put his hand down. "I really just need to be alone right now." Ava said walking outside.

"Do you think she is okay?" Erika asked sitting on Bradin's bed. "No clue, she looked like she was crying." Bradin said sitting down at his desk. He spun a few times in his chair. "Nikki's in a lot of trouble." Erika said finally saying something after akward silence. "Yeah. I kinda feel bad. But she should have remembered."


	11. Authors Note

**AUTHORS NOTE**

I know I haven't been writing much. I have been so busy. My writing be poor because I just want to get a chapter in quickly and I usually only have time at night. Schoolwork has been taking up all of my time since I am in my last quarter of school, they have been giving lots of homework. This story is just giving me a headache, I try to write a chapter and nothing seems to be any good. At first I had so many ideas, but I've used them up on other story's. I don't know how to end this story, and I don't know if I will come back to the story, but if I do, there will be some improvements in my writing. But there is some good news, I am writing a different Summerland FanFic, it should be up with in a few days! This one, however, is from Nikki's point of view, and you will notice that I twisted some things. I really am sorry, but I just don't think the story is going anywhere but down. Its not getting any better. I want to thank SummerlandLover for all the wonderful reviews! Don't worry, I'm sure you will all love my new story!

3 Starstruck1

4/4/06


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